


One for Sorrow

by anomalation



Series: Magpies [1]
Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Filling in the time in Paris, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 00:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15448911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anomalation/pseuds/anomalation
Summary: Hernando and Daniella weren't sure they believed Lito, but they were sure he wasn't going to fly to Paris alone. There, they begin to understand what they've gotten into.





	One for Sorrow

Lito Rodriguez was many things, but he was never a liar. Hernando clung to that fact, trying to find some vague comfort in knowing that his lover never lied, not to those he loved. He never brought his work home with him.

“Let’s hear it again,” Hernando said, aiming for a diplomatic tone.

“You’ve heard it three times,” Lito answered with a frown, and he shifted his weight to lean on the counter. “What difference would it make? The story is the same.”

Hernando looked over at Daniella, who was standing next to him. She hadn’t said a word, which was perhaps the most alarming part of this whole thing. “Just once more,” Hernando said, and Lito sighed and rolled his eyes but he told it again.

He did have a talent for narrative. Hearing him tell it was almost enough to make Hernando believe the whole outlandish tale. And there were other factors as well, such as the fact that Lito, while imaginative, did not have the capability to imagine something like this. Hernando was sure of that.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Lito finished for the fourth time. “Believe me, I’ve felt crazy for the last eight months. That’s the only reason I haven’t told you.”

“Let me recap,” Hernando said. The best way to understand something was to tell it to someone else, he reasoned. “You have a psychic connection with seven other people. Around the world. One is in terrible peril. And now we have to fly to Paris to rescue him.” Saying it made it sound simple.

Lito nodded with his entire body. “Yes, precisely. I understand if you don’t want to come with me. This is a crazy situation.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Dani speaking up made both of them look at her. Her eyes were wet; she wiped a tear from her face, sniffed hard, and the blank mask that made her look so unfamiliar fell into place. Hernando had seen it only a few times before. With Joaquin, and with her family. It was uncomfortable to see it now.

“We’re coming,” she said, looking at Hernando expectantly. He nodded obligingly.

“So you believe me?” Lito said with relief.

Daniella did not answer. “How long will we be gone?” she asked, walking away. “How many outfits should I bring?”

“I don’t know. Around two weeks,” Lito called after her. Then he looked at Hernando. His eyes were as captivating as the day they met, deep and warm. He believed what he was saying; that, Hernando believed without question. “Please. Tell me you believe me,” Lito said.

“I believe that you mean it,” Hernando hedged.

That was not enough. Lito cursed, slammed his hands on the counter and turned around. “I would not lie about this!” he insisted.

It was true. And there were other true things as well, that Hernando was doing his best to take into account. Lito had been acting strangely in the past year, to be sure. And his story was certainly specific. As was the blood on his face.

“Okay,” Hernando said. “Are there any… scientists, or scholars you’re connected to that can explain this?”

Lito nodded, looked somewhere to the left at thin air, and Hernando watched in bewilderment. “Kala,” Lito said, and then something in his very manner changed. His back straightened, and Hernando would swear the person looking at him wasn’t his Lito.

“Kala,” Hernando repeated. “Kala who?”

Lito’s phone rang then, and the number was a format Hernando had never seen before. Lito answered, then put whoever it was on speaker. “This is Kala,” he said to Hernando, then said to the phone. “Kala, this is Hernando. My partner.”

The answering voice was definitely female, and just as definitely speaking a language Hernando could only guess at.

“He doesn’t understand,” Lito said.

“Right,” the girl said in accented English instead. “My apologies. Will English work? I suppose I could speak Spanish, since you know how to, but-”

“English is fine, Kala,” Lito interrupted.

“Good. Great. So what exactly are you looking for clarification on, Hernando?” she asked.

Hernando blinked. “Well. How does this all work?” he said towards the phone, feeling a little lame. “The psychic connection.”

“Good question,” Kala said. “There is a genetic component that is selected for when members of a cluster are activated, so to speak, but we don’t know much specifically about that yet. The connection seems to work much in the same way DMT does, activating the parts of our brain that are responsible for empathy.”

This explanation was quickly reaching the limits of Hernando’s understanding. “Interesting,” he said as he searched for some other question that might get him the answer he was looking for. “Is it on all the time?”

“On and off,” Kala said. “Off, as soon as I get us all blockers. It’s safer that way, while we plan. How soon are you getting here?”

“As soon as possible,” Lito said. “Who else is there?”

“Will and Riley, at the moment. Hurry, please,” she said.

Lito looked at nothing again, then nodded and hung up his phone. Hernando considered for a moment the fact that if they were psychically connected, that whole conversation was for his benefit. “Was she… here?” he asked. “Just now?”

“Yes,” Lito admitted. “She was pacing.”

“A habit the two of you have in common,” Hernando said under his breath.

Lito heard him. He didn’t seem to know how to take it, so he pulled some faces and paced.

Daniella came back, walking with determined purpose. “Who are they?” she asked firmly. “Their names.”

Lito nodded. “Wolfgang. He is the one in danger. There’s Riley, and Sun and Nomi. Will, and Capheus. And Kala, who we just spoke to.”

Dani glanced at Hernando for confirmation; he nodded with a small shrug. They had just spoken to someone who appeared to be real and named Kala. “Okay,” she said. “When’s the next flight?”

She could be very practical; Hernando loved that about her. Dani was the reason they were packed in time for their flight that left an hour from their phone conversation. She called while they were in the airport and made the perfect excuses to postpone Lito’s rehearsals, and she packed their carryons perfectly, with protein bars for Lito and books for Hernando. But she didn’t speak about Lito’s story, and she wouldn’t say whether she believed him or not.

That, Hernando thought, was a bad sign.

They were picked up at the airport by a stranger, a pretty girl with short blonde hair, one streak of blue. She and Lito began talking immediately in a language Hernando knew Lito didn’t speak. German, perhaps. Or Dutch.

The blonde looked at Hernando and Dani, and a look of embarrassment spread on her face. “Sorry,” she said in English. “I’m Riley.”

“Pleasure,” Hernando said, and shook her hand. Dani said nothing. She didn’t reach for Hernando or Lito’s hand, either, which was truly unusual. Hernando did not like this.

Riley drove them through the crowded, narrow Parisian streets to a building that was beautifully old-fashioned. It looked, Hernando thought, exactly as he thought a Parisian apartment might look. And it was cavernous, two floors. Though, if eight people or more were coming to live here, it might not be big enough.

An Indian woman was working in the dining room on equipment Hernando didn’t recognize. He guessed that was Kala, and the bear hug Lito gave her was answer enough. And in the living room, a man was working on a large transparent whiteboard, putting together what looked to be quite the conspiracy. He looked over his shoulder at them. “Hey, I’m Will. Nice to meet you,” he said, and came over with his hand stuck out for a handshake. “Did Lito fill you in?” he asked, shaking Daniella’s hand as well.

“To a degree,” Hernando said.

Lito put Kala down to put a hand over his heart. “I gave a very detailed explanation,” he said in Spanish.

Will rolled his eyes in sync with Kala. Riley was a little more restrained; she just blinked, and heaved a deep sigh. Hernando thought he’d like this girl. “Okay,” Will said. “You want some coffee or something? We can break it down a little more, answer any questions you have.”

Hernando shook his head. Daniella asked for a glass of water. Then they were bundled onto a couch and explained to. Will was much better at explaining; it seemed like he had done this several times. And he had proof.

It took only one demonstration to convince Hernando. Hernando asked a very specific question about he and Lito’s second date, something they’d never told anyone, and Kala blushed, but answered, and Hernando was sold.

Daniella took a little more convincing. She listened, she watched the demonstration, and even still she said nothing. But when Hernando reached for her hand, she took it and laced their fingers together.

“Dani, if you don’t feel safe here,” Hernando began.

“I do,” she said. “I know you and Lito would never let anything happen to me. But this is… ‘nando, this is crazy. Who even are these people?”

Hernando saw it clearly then. She wasn’t skeptical, she was scared. She’d only known one family, and she couldn’t bear the thought of losing it. He leaned close to kiss her cheek, and she dropped her head onto her shoulder.

Will had been watching this, Hernando saw him over Dani’s shoulder. Those police officer instincts at work. He watched Will work up the nerve to come over. Odd, Hernando reflected, how much it looked like Lito when he did the same thing.

“Hey,” Will said, and he sat next to Daniella on the couch. “Listen. I know this is a lot to take in.”

“You think?” Dani said, but Hernando heard the tears in her voice.

Will, apparently, did too. "But aside from all the sci-fi shit, it comes down to something really simple. You're here to help someone because Lito cares about them. You're here on faith, and I appreciate that."

"I don't even know why we came here," Daniella said, and the tears started to fall. "He's got all of you in his head, he doesn't even need us."

"That's bullshit," Will said, and Hernando couldn't help his smile. He appreciated a straight-forward conversation, for the novelty if nothing else. "Lito brought you because he needed you," Will told her, with a hand on her shoulder. "We all do."

"You don't know us," Hernando pointed out.

Will looked frustrated. "No," he said. "But Lito does. And for about a year, I've been feeling everything he feels."

"My God," Hernando said. The prospect made him feel a little faint.

"It was a lot," Will said, with the wry smile of someone who loved Lito anyways. "But I know that he wouldn't be who he is without both of you. And we need him." He looked between the two of them, trying to judge their reaction, Hernando thought. "And you."

"You need a professor and a washed-up actress?" Daniella said bitterly.

"Yeah," Will answered, sincerity in every inch of him. "We're trying to take on an international corporation with unlimited funding. "We need all the help we can get. Do either of you speak French?"

Hernando did not.

"Obviously," Dani sniffled. "We summered in Nice."

"Awesome," Will said. "Because Riley's our only French speaker, and she has to take blockers. Nomi took French in high school but remembers like, none of it. And Wolfgang only knows how to swear. What are you a professor of?" he added to Hernando.

Lito and Kala were back downstairs, talking quickly to each other. "Art," he answered, looking back at Will. "And literature. Not very useful."

Dani hit his arm. "Shut up," she said. "You have an incredible mind for planning, and you're a wonderful cook."

"Cook," Will repeated. "Could you help us put together a grocery list? Lito can talk to everyone who's not here yet and tell you what they want. And Dani, can you handle the shopping trip once everyone's here?"

"Sure," she nodded, wiping her eyes dry. "Do we have a budget, or will I need to get the food for free?"

Will was too taken back to answer momentarily. "I'll be paying," Kala said from across the room.

"How would you get it for free?" Will asked, a smile growing on his face.

Daniella shrugged. "I have a big purse. Or I could find a rat in a box of spaghetti and burst into tears."

Will smiled properly then, the conspiratorial smile of a kindred soul finding another. Hernando was not at all surprised by his response. "Do you know how to pick handcuffs?"

"Not police ones," Daniella said.

"We'll get a pair, I'll show you," Will promised, and Daniella squealed and hugged him.

Their friendship would be absolutely terrifying, Hernando was already sure. Terrifying in the way that Dani got Lito a job in less than an hour, when she put her mind to it. Hernando found himself looking forward to it, not least of all because it was sure to be entertaining.

It was also much easier to consider Daniella's growing friendship with an American stranger than to consider the fact that Lito was communicating with four people who were currently on international flights, asking them what they wanted for dinner. But Hernando had to handle both of those things, and in the process any doubt he may've had about Lito's story fell off the list of priorities completely. Hernando believed him, in other words. It was indisputable, in the end.

"Lito's very lucky to have you," Kala said to him, while they were taking stock of their kitchen supplies. She was counting stacks of dishes. He was trying to locate the silverware.

"I don't know," Hernando said. "He's lucky to have the seven of you as well, isn't he?"

"Yes, but we're connected through a short-cut," she said, sounding distracted. "We don't have to put any effort into understanding. We have disagreements, of course, but it's hard to be selfish when you know exactly how the other person feels. Twelve of everything, we might need paper plates and plastic utensils after all."

"I'll add it to the list." Hernando uncapped his pen and made a note.

"Hernando, I'm serious," Kala said.

"I'm adding it!" he protested.

"No, about Lito. He's lucky to have people who have put in the time, and had the hard conversations and know about this crazy... whatever it is and have stuck with him regardless. It's not a common thing," she said.

Hernando noticed how she was avoiding eye contact and keeping her hands busy rearranging the cabinets. He adjusted his glasses. "Have you told anyone?" he asked.

"No," she said with what she meant to be a smile. "No, it was too dangerous. But that doesn't mean you need to pity me. I'm very happy."

Hernando nodded several times. "Of course," he said. "Do we need cups?"

"Yes, yes, let me count," she said faintly, and wiped her cheeks when she thought he wasn't looking. And just then, Hernando resolved to keep an eye on Kala through the next two weeks, or however long they were here. Something told him it'd be longer than that. 


End file.
